His Dark Materials (TV series)
| creator = | based_on = | writer = Jack Thorne | starring = | composer = Lorne Balfe | country = | language = English | num_series = 1 | num_episodes = 8 | list_episodes = #Episodes | executive_producer = | producer = Laurie Borg | editor = | cinematography = Justin Brown | camera = | runtime = | company = | picture_format = 2:1 4K UHDTV | audio_format = | first_aired = | last_aired = | website = https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b1v2 | image_alt = | network = | first_run = | released = | distributor = | production_website = https://bad-wolf.com/productions/his-dark-materials/ }} 'His Dark Materials' is a fantasy drama television series based on the novel series of the same name by Philip Pullman. It is produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Productions, for BBC One and HBO, with the latter handling international distribution. The eight-episode first series premiered on 3 November 2019 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on 4 November on HBO in the United States and other markets. Before the series premiered, ''His Dark Materials was renewed for a second series of eight episodes. Premise His Dark Materials is set in a multi-world reality, with the action moving from one world to another. The story begins in an alternate world where all humans have animal companions called daemons, which are manifestations of the human soul. The series follows the life of a young girl named Lyra who is an orphan living with the scholars at Jordan College, Oxford. As in Pullman's novel, Lyra discovers a dangerous secret that involves Lord Asriel Belacqua and Marisa Coulter. In her search for her missing friend, Lyra also uncovers a series of kidnappings and its link to the mysterious substance called Dust which leads her to the journey of epic proportion with a boy named Will. Cast Main * Dafne Keen as Lyra Silvertongue, formerly known as Lyra Belacqua, a girl who was raised at Jordan College. * Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter, an explorer and powerful figure at the Magisterium who is Lyra's mother. * Anne-Marie Duff as Ma Costa, a Gyptian woman who previously nursed Lyra. * Clarke Peters as The Master of Jordan College * James Cosmo as Farder Coram, an elderly Gyptian and Serafina's former lover. * Ariyon Bakare as Lord Carlo Boreal, an authoritative figure at the Magisterium who crosses between two worlds. In Will's world, he is known as Charles Latrom. * Will Keen as Father MacPhail, a Magisterium official. * Lucian Msamati as John Faa, the lord of the Western Gyptians. * Gary Lewis as Thorold, Asriel's assistant. * Lewin Lloyd as Roger Parslow, a kitchen boy who is Lyra's best friend. * Daniel Frogson as Tony Costa, a Gyptian whose daemon has recently settled, and Ma Costa's elder son. * James McAvoy as Lord Asriel Belacqua, a scholar and explorer who is Lyra's father. * Georgina Campbell as Adele Starminster, a reporter. * Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby, an aeronaut. * Ruta Gedmintas as Serafina Pekkala, a witch who is a member of a coven at Lake Enera, and Coram's former lover. * Lia Williams as Dr. Cooper, a Magisterium scientist operating in Bolvangar. * Amir Wilson as Will Parry, a secondary school student from Oxford, whose father disappeared 13 years ago. * Nina Sosanya as Elaine Parry, Will's sick mother. Recurring * Simon Manyonda as Benjamin De Ruyter * Geoff Bell as Jack Verhoeven * Tyler Howitt as Billy Costa, a Gyptian boy captured by the Gobblers, and Ma Costa's younger son. * Mat Fraser as Raymond Van Gerritt * David Langham as Father Garret * Robert Emms as Thomas , an agent working for Boreal who spies on Will's family. * Morfydd Clark as Sister Clara * Frank Bourke as Fra Pavel * Jamie Wilkes as The Pale-Faced Man * Joe Tandberg as Iorek Byrnison (voice and motion-capture), an armoured bear. Guest * Ian Gelder as Charles * Patrick Godfrey as Butler * Philip Goldacre as Sub-Rector * Richard Cunningham as Chaplain * Ian Peck as Cardinal Sturrock * Ruby Llewelyn as Rose * Mary Fernandez as Esme * Sandra James-Young as Diane * Nabil Elouahabi as The Bright-Eyed Man * Harry Melling as Sysselman * Omid Djalili as Dr. Martin Lanselius * Joi Johannsson as Iofur Raknison (motion-capture), an armoured bear. * Cameron King as Toby * Ray Fearon as Mr. Hanway , the wrestling coach of Will. * Pasi Antero Remsu as a Samoyed Hunter * Kate Rutter as Sister Betty * Eva Jazani as Bridget McGinn * Amit Shah as Dr. Rendal * Martha Bright as Bella * Raffiella Chapman as Annie * Andrew Scott as Colonel John Parry, a marine and explorer who is Will's father. In Lyra's world, he is known as Stanislaus Grumman. * Amma Ris as Martha * Asheq Akhtar as Jotham Santelia * Cath Whitefield as WPC Jenkins Voice cast * Helen McCrory as Stelmaria, Asriel's daemon. * Kit Connor as Pantalaimon, Lyra's daemon. * Eloise Little as Salcilia, Roger's daemon. * Phoebe Scholfield as Alicia, the Master's daemon. * Libby Rodliffe as Lyuba, Tony Costa's daemon. * Cristela Alonzo as Hester, Lee Scoresby's daemon. * David Suchet as Kaisa, Serafina Pekkala's daemon. * Peter Serafinowicz as Iofur Raknison Additionally, lead puppeteer Brian Fisher provides the uncredited vocalisations for Mrs Coulter's monkey daemon. Episodes }} |aux4T=US viewers (millions) |episodes= | Viewers = 9.72 | Aux4 = 0.424 | ShortSummary = Young Lyra Belacqua is raised as a ward of Jordan College in Oxford. Her closest friends are her daemon Pantalaimon (nicknamed Pan) and a servant boy named Roger Parslow. Lyra admires her uncle, Lord Asriel, a polar explorer whose research into Dust and what he believes is a multiverse is regarded heretical by the ruling Magisterium. Lyra saves Asriel from being poisoned by the Master of Jordan College, who foresees Lyra's future importance through an alethiometer, one of only six ever made. After Asriel leaves on another polar expedition, the Master arranges for Lyra to stay with Marisa Coulter, also an explorer who offers to groom Lyra as her protégée in London and promises to search for Roger. Meanwhile, the mysterious "Gobblers" have kidnapped a Gyptian boy named Billy Costa and later kidnap Roger. The Master gives Lyra the alethiometer that belongs to her uncle. The Master says it tells the truth and is for Lyra's protection. He warns her to tell no one, including Mrs Coulter, that she possesses it. Lyra accompanies the charismatic Mrs Coulter to London in the hope of finding Roger. The Gyptians pursue the Gobblers to London. | LineColor = 191214 }} | WrittenBy = Jack Thorne | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = 7.71 | Aux4 = 0.369 | ShortSummary = Lyra settles into Mrs Coulter's luxurious London apartment, assured that her benefactress is actively searching for Roger. The Gyptians' attempt to rescue the missing children fails. Back at Oxford, the Master of Jordan College denies Lord Boreal, a Consistorial Court priest, access to what is believed to be Stanislaus Grumman's decapitated head, recently found in the north by Asriel. Boreal travels through a portal to an alternate Oxford where he hires the mercenary Thomas to find Grumman. Lyra and Pan grow wary of Mrs Coulter's monkey daemon and her close ties to the Magisterium. Lyra is caught eavesdropping on Mrs Couter and Father MacPhail. Mrs Coulter orders her daemon to attack Pan before inadvertently revealing that Lord Asriel is Lyra's father. Unknown to Lyra, Mrs Coulter visits Roger, Billy, and the other kidnapped children, saying they are going on an adventure to "the North". While she is away, Lyra discovers that Mrs Coulter is involved with the General Oblation Board of London. During a party at the apartment, journalist Adele Starminster confirms to Lyra that the Oblation Board is known as the Gobblers, prompting Lyra and Pan to flee with the alethiometer. Boreal kills Adele by crushing her daemon. Shortly after, Lyra and Pan are captured by a Gobbler. | LineColor = 191214 }} | WrittenBy = Jack Thorne | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = 7.22 | Aux4 = 0.348 | ShortSummary = Billy's older brother, Tony Costa, and his friend, Benjamin, rescue Lyra and Pan from the Gobblers and take her to the Gyptians' camp. Lyra agrees to temporarily stay with them for protection and to help find Roger and the other missing children. Mrs Coulter leads a raid on Jordan College searching for Lyra. She learns that Lyra has an alethiometer and sends two robotic "spy flies" to track her. Boreal crosses back to the alternate World where he meets with his contact, Thomas, who says Grumman's real name is John Parry, and he is from his World. Boreal believes this impossible because Parry has a daemon, unlike humans in Thomas' World. Thomas has traced Grumman's ship to Alaska, and adds that Parry has a wife and child on this Earth. Boreal hires another man to find them. Lyra confronts Ma Costa, demanding anwers. Ma reveals that Mrs Coulter is Lyra's mother. Mrs Coulter and Asriel had a secret love affair, resulting in Lyra's birth. Asriel then killed Mrs Coulter's husband in a fight and hid Lyra at Jordan College. Lyra helps Gyptian king, John Faa, to persuade the others to travel North and find the captive children. Tony and Benjamin raid Mrs Coulter's apartment, finding a list of missing children including Billy Costa. The boys are discovered; Tony narrowly escapes but Benjamin is killed. Lyra discovers she intuitively can read the alethiometer before she and Pan are attacked by the spy flies. Farder Coram captures one spy, but the other escapes and returns to Mrs Coulter, divulging Lyra's location. | LineColor = 191214 }} | Viewers = 6.88 | Aux4 = 0.396 | ShortSummary = Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby and his daemon Hester travel to Trollesund in the Far North seeking Iorek Byrnison, a disgraced armoured bear. Trollesund's Magisterium citizens stole his armour several years earlier, forcing him to work as an indentured worker. Lyra and the Gyptians also sail to Trollesund to search for the kidnapped children. Farder Coram contacts his former lover, a witch named Serafina Pekkala. Her daemon, Kaisa, promises that Serafina will help the Gyptians. Though the Gyptian elders believe Iorek is untrustworthy, Lyra and Pan join forces with Scoresby and Hester to enlist Iorek's help in finding the kidnapped children. With Lyra's assistance, Iorek recovers his armour locked inside a Magisterium church. Iorek, Scoresby and Hester join forces with Lyra and the Gyptians as they continue travelling north. Meanwhile, a Magisterium priest attempts to replace Mrs Coulter as head of the Gobblers with Father MacPhail. However, she blackmails him by revealing that Lord Asriel is being held prisoner by Iofur Raknison, the king of the armoured bears. She offers to give Asriel to the Magisterium in exchange for continuing her experiments. Travelling north, she meets with Iofur, offering him a baptism and induction into the Magisterium in exchange for working with her. | LineColor = 191214 }} | WrittenBy = Jack Thorne | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = 6.69 | Aux4 = 0.467 | ShortSummary = Lyra and the Gyptians travel farther north with Scoresby and Iorek to seek the kidnapped children. The alethiometer signals Lyra to go to a nearby fishing village: the Gyptians reluctantly allow her to go after Iorek agrees to take her. In the alternate world, Will Parry looks after his mentally ill mother, Elaine, while attending high school. The Parrys are stalked by Thomas and Father Boreal, who are seeking information about Will's father, John Parry. Elaine gives Will his father's letters, explaining his disappearance. Boreal determines that John has been travelling through the Multiverse ever since his disappearance from the alternate World thirteen years earlier; evidence could be found in Will's home. Farder Coram meets with Serafina Pekkala to discuss the Multiverse and a coming war. Lyra and Iorek arrive at the fishing village and find Billy Costa, who has been surgically separated from his daemon. They return Billy to his family, but he dies soon after. A Samoyed raiding party capture Lyra and bring her to Bolvangar, the Gobblers' base. | LineColor = 191214 }} | WrittenBy = Jack Thorne | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = 6.36 | Aux4 = 0.393 | ShortSummary = Lyra, posing as "Lizzie", mingles with the captive children at Bolvangar and she finds with Roger. She learns the Gobblers are using an experimental procedure called intercision to surgically sever the children from their daemons. Mrs Coulter later visits Bolvangar and, discovering that Lyra and Pan are about to undergo an intercision, halts it. Mrs Coulter attempts to persuade Lyra to join her, claiming Dust is the source of sin and that all adults are "infected" by it. She wants Lyra to give her the aleithiometer, but Lyra tricks her and attacks her with the captured spy-fly. Lyra escapes and destroys the base's generator. The children are rescued by the Gyptians, Iorek, Scoresby, and the witch Serafina Pekkala, who kill the scientists and mercenaries, although Mrs Coulter escapes. The Gyptians return south with the rescued children, while Lyra, Roger and their daemons travel north with Scoresby and Iorek in the hot-air balloon to reach Lord Asriel on Svalbard. However, flying bat-like monsters called cliff-ghasts attack them, and Lyra falls from the airship. Meanwhile, Will Parry reads his father's letters as Thomas and another mercenary spy on him. | LineColor = 191214 }} | WrittenBy = Jack Thorne | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = | Aux4 = 0.485 | ShortSummary = Lyra survives the fall, but is captured by an armoured bear and taken to Iofur Raknison's palace in Svalbard. She convinces Iofur that she is Iorek's artificial daemon, created by scientists at Bolvangar. Lyra manipulates Iofur to fight Iorek in single combat to claim her. Iorek wins, although is badly wounded. He becomes king and reunites Lyra with Roger. They travel to Asriel's laboratory. Meanwhile, Mrs Coulter, Father MacPhail, and the Magisterium's soldiers are headed for Svalbard to find and kill Asriel. Elsewhere, Scoresby and Hester have crash-landed. Serafina arrives and says the others are safe but Lyra needs help. Lyra, Roger and Iorek climb into the Svalbard mountains and reach Asriel's laboratory. Lyra and Asriel are reunited, though her arrival initially distresses Asriel. Meanwhile, Boreal crosses back to the alternate World and visits Elaine Parry, who resists sharing information about her husband. After Boreal's mercenary breaks into the Parrys' house, Will retrieves his father's letters. When Thomas and his accomplice return, Will kills Thomas in self-defence, then flees. | LineColor = 191214 }} | WrittenBy = Jack Thorne | OriginalAirDate = | Viewers = | Aux4 = | ShortSummary = | LineColor = 191214 }} }} Production Development The three His Dark Materials novels, written by Philip Pullman from 1995 to 2000, achieved success in young-adult fiction, leading to the development of a 2007 feature film, The Golden Compass. The film received criticism from fans of the trilogy for the dilution of elements of the story that were critical of religion, as well as from some religious organisations for the source material's perceived anti-religious themes. When the film was released, sequels that would have adapted the other two novels in the series became unlikely due to the backlash from religious groups and the film's disappointing reception, according to Pullman. After several years, the rights reverted to Pullman. In November 2015, BBC One announced that it had commissioned a television adaptation of the trilogy, to be produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema. The eight-part adaptation had a planned premiere date in 2017. In April 2017 writer Jack Thorne told Radio Times that the series was still in pre-production. He said, "It's at an exciting point where we're just throwing things at the page and trying to work out what works and what doesn't", and that he wanted to ensure that they were being loyal to the books. Director Otto Bathurst explained that some elements of the book and film had been changed to give the series a more modern feel, compared to the original's Victoriana fantasy. On 12 September 2018, HBO was announced as the co-producer and international distributor of the series. On 10 October 2018, Miranda reported that he had wrapped up filming for his role. On 14 December 2018, it was announced that filming for the first series had wrapped. Before the series premiered, His Dark Materials was renewed for a second series of eight episodes. Filming of the second season began before the premiere of the first season, which was considered "a necessary move considering the age of the show's young star". Casting On 8 March 2018, it was announced that Dafne Keen had signed on to star in the series to play Lyra with director Tom Hooper signed on to direct. Lin-Manuel Miranda would star as Lee Scoresby. On 8 June 2018, it was reported that James McAvoy, Clarke Peters, and Ruth Wilson had joined the cast. On 27 July 2018, the BBC and Bad Wolf revealed the cast and crew for the series. Music The music for the series is composed by Lorne Balfe. For the first season, two soundtrack albums are being prepared: a musical anthology with thematic pieces (released in November 2019 as "The Musical Anthology of his Dark Materials"), and an album with the music as used in the series. Release On 24 July 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fourth quarter of 2019 in the United Kingdom and the United States. On 12 September 2019, sources revealed that the series was set to premiere on 3 November 2019 on BBC One and the following night on HBO. In New Zealand, the series is exclusively distributed by Neon, Sky TV's streaming service, from 5 November 2019. In Australia, the series is distributed by the cable and satellite television company Foxtel. Reception Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 87 critics, with an average rating of 7.69/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "The daemon is in the details and while His Dark Materials‘ visual splendor and exceptional performances deftly capture the essence of Philip Pullman's seminal novels, it could use a little more magic." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 66 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "...this effort nails much of what makes the books pop, and both the special effects and a star-studded cast led by Dafne Keen and Ruth Wilson are in fine form." However he followed that by saying "What never fully worked for me in the four episodes ... sent to critics is the necessary feeling of narrative and thematic momentum. It's vastly better than the movie, but neither fun nor smart enough to quite succeed." Caroline Framke of Variety wrote: "Despite the rich complexities of the novel’s world of daemons, power-hungry players and warring faiths, HBO’s His Dark Materials feels like it could have been plucked from most any other fantasy epic out there." David Levesley of British GQ wrote that His Dark Materials as a whole illustrates the fundamental problem with remaking adaptations, and this problem became apparent according to Beth Elderkin of Gizmodo when she wrote about its inability to capture the connection between humans and daemons. Ben Lawrence of The Telegraph gave the first episode 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a fine piece of drama, capturing the strangeness and childlike wonder of the books, but also their rigour and bite. This is intelligent populism writ large." Huw Fullerton of the Radio Times gave the first episode a positive review: "While there is a slight element of table-setting in the series' first hour the appeal of the actors and setting are beguiling enough to pull you through all the exposition and explanation." Fullerton praised Wilson for her performance, saying she "nearly walks away with the whole series". Accolades Notes References External links * * Category:2010s British children's television series Category:2010s British drama television series Category:2019 British television series debuts Category:BBC television dramas Category:British fantasy television series Category:English-language television programs Category:His Dark Materials Category:Television shows filmed in the United Kingdom Category:Witchcraft in television Category:Television series scored by Lorne Balfe Category:Television series scored by Max Aruj Category:Television series scored by Steffen Thum Category:Television series scored by Sven Faulconer